The magnificent eight! In all their glory. I'll be honest, facing them is a lot less fun than running them.....
So this is me. Longbow army, two elite knights for a bit of a kick, mediocre heavy spear to tar pit. The light cavalry command is to hang out on a flank and slow down the enemies advance. Note no stakes in this army.
Hmmm, this list seems to have a levy in it... turns out that it did 15 minutes ago when I ran it. That would have made a handy stopping light infantry from burning my camp guard.... Other wise eight Elite Elephants with some okay in a fight mediums.
English elect to attack.
English move forward. In the top East corner you can just see the light horse command peaking into the photo a touch.
Nothing here wants to fight an elephant, nothing.
Elephant see no reason to hang around and after not rolling a one on the allied command check, they advance.
Longbows begin a peppering. The odds of a longbow getting through the light infantry intime to take a shot at the elephant are low. Looking at about a 17.4% chance of pulling it off before the elephant hits your line. Basically you are not going to scare a shielded elephant that wants at your bowmen. English light cavalry move up to get ready to cause some havoc in the North East.
Elephants move forward, kinda. Dropping off most of their medium foot escorts to guard flanks, or to rally off longbow hits.
In the West the English have set up a flanking position. The elephants just don't have the numbers to stop this. They are going to try and smash through quickly, though not loving the medium foots chances on the end of getting through this. In the North East....well in the North East I spent a considerable amount of time positioning the two light cavalry for maximum annoyance while being safe from the impetuous medium foot. I then forgot to fire my javelins into the rear of the elephant and, far more crucially for all my stuffing around, had forgotten that these were not impetuous foot, but impact. So could turn and move two UD... not one UD.... why am I so bad at this game?
Elephants come in! SMASH! It is truly horrible, two medium sword longbow rout on contact. Down the line elephants cause desperation. In response I do the only sensible thing, blame the dice, finish my beer and pour a 12 year single malt.
The only saving grace is the English light horse that had been put in a position it could not evade a flank charge, draws and lives for another turn.
English turn and time to salvage this disaster, no more unforced errors! In the West things start looking up. An elephant is read charged and routs... bloody stoopid thing routs forward and puts a hit on the English medium sword longbow (sigh). Elsewhere is not looking so hot. In the East a heavy spearman charges an elephant to remove its ZoC and allow a flank charge against the elephant general. The elephant general, fighting in two directions, routs the opponent to its front, then turns menacingly towards the rude Englishmen who just poked its rear. The brave mediocre spear that charged an elite elephant... well they took three hits for their trouble.
Further North the English light horse fighting the medium foot routs. Though it occurs to me that it could have withdrawn from combat. It would have moved about a quarter of a UD and then had to stop, but would have been out of combat. This would have allowed it to gets its javelin back and maybe some support from the other light horse. What did I say about unforced errors? I forget.
Light javelinmen move up to ZoC elephants, trying to buy some time.
Dear mother of (insert deity here).The English lose four units this turn. Am so depressed didn't even mark them all properly. (there is a yellow weird marker on the field, thats a death marker.) In the East the English foot knight gets a win... that's something. Elephant general in the West charges some lights, it evades.
Quick death count and it is not looking good for the English. It is kitchen sink, bathroom scales, feck all the amenities are to be thrown in. Both Brilliant generals join combats where it is two light infantry vs an elephant. One is an elephant general. Well dip me in mustard and call me hotdog! The English lights win their fights! both elephants take hits! In the North East the English are also picking up steam taking out a medium foot and the English Elite knight winning a second engagement. Its still looking bad for the English, but the lady who has eaten one too many pies is not yet ready to slam out some vocals.
...the English lights.... the English lights TAKE OUT THE ELEPHANT GENERAL! Medals all round! In the North the English Foot knight chops through a second medium foot. The English lose a stand to the elephants, but the points score is getting closer and closer. Central, and completely undamaged, three elephant command wheels, getting reading to avenge their fallen comrade.
Another elephant is taken out by English lights! Bugger all this expensive gear, give me two guys in their underwear with a couple of pointy sticks! Count is made. Both sides are one from breaking, there is one combat to go.
Elite English Foot knight with support (has friend) vs medium impact foot. Dice are even, English foot knight is elite.... and he rolls a one... what a why to finish the game...a one! Curse you. He takes a single hit, but it is enough to break the moral of the English and they quit the field.
Victory to the Elephants.
I don't want to talk about it.........
Okay, maybe for just a minute.
Unforced errors are unforgivable. I sacrificed 2 moral points for no gain, cause I forgot the stats of an army I had just commanded 15 minutes ago. I then compounded that with not withdrawing and buying a turn. The game come down to the wire and I threw away two points. sad face. stoopid brain.
The Elephant list is beatable. The question is do I drop something to add stakes? If the elephants hadn't blown through so quickly my working the flanks would have had more time. To buy the stakes I have to drop the size of the army... decisions, decisions.
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